There has been an acute financial pressure brought on by Covid-19 to farmers, who in Bangladesh have suffered two folds, one from the loss of not being able to sell their produce and another from last year’s devastating floods
The government has been distributing financial packages to affected farmers to offset their loss. So far the Agriculture Ministry has distributed incentives of Tk372 crore among 57 lakh farmers across the country in the current fiscal year.
“The incentives are for increasing crop production as floods and the global pandemic has had a negative impact on the country's food production,” said an official release, reports BSS.
The incentives have been disbursed from agriculture rehabilitation allocation under the regular budget of the agriculture ministry. “Various farm ingredients and necessary assistance including seed, seedlings and fertilizer remain part of the incentives,” the release added.
Of the total amount, Tk112 crore has been disbursed as incentives for making up crop production loss due to Covid-19 and the floods. Incentives of Tk90 crore have been distributed for increasing production of maskalai, mung, sunflower, mustard and maize.
Also Tk136 crore has been distributed as seed assistance to raise production and cultivation of the Boro paddy, Tk25 crore for increasing onion production and Tk9 crore has been given for hybrid boro rice cultivation in 61 districts.
